Alex Mercer (Blacklight)
This article is about the BLACKLIGT Entity. For the original human individual, see Alex Mercer." "My name is Alex Mercer. I'm the reason for all of this. They call me a Killer, a Monster, a Terrorist. I'm all of these things." ''-Alex Mercer'' The Blacklight Entity, designated under Codename: ZEUS by official military records and more commonly known as Alex Mercer, is a manifestation of the Blacklight Virus running rampant in NYZ. Having assumed Mercer's form and identity, ZEUS is responsible for the Second Blacklight Outbreak in New York City, as well as the deaths of millions of innocent lives. History Creation A group of scientists led by Dr. Alex Mercer managed to synthesize a new virus strain which they named Blacklight. While the real goal was to engineer a new version of the Redlight Virus used years before, none of the scientists were aware of this, only knowing and intending to use it to cure global diseases such as cancer. The scientists soon became suspicious, noting that a large portion of virus variants had deadly effects on the test animals. Due to their suspicion, the scientists were considered a potential liability by Blackwatch, an elite army created to combat exotic threats. Over time, Gentek became scrutinized by Congress and investigations were proposed. Fearing an information leak, Blackwatch decided to cover it all up. Mercer, due to his paranoid nature, began to launch his own secret investigation on Gentek. Release When he learned that a general purge was about to be unleashed upon the Gentek scientists, Mercer fled, fearing for his life. In the event he was caught, Mercer had brought insurance—he had smuggled a vial of the Blacklight virus out of quarantine and taken it with him. He also mailed a laptop with classified documents to Dana. But Blackwatch was too quick for him. While attempting to escape the city by train, Mercer was cornered in Penn Station by Blackwatch agents. In a fit of frustration and rage, he threw the vial to the floor, smashing it and unleashing a biological apocalypse. He was promptly shot by Blackwatch operatives. The virus began to spread to everyone in the station. As he fell, he collapsed onto the viral sample, becoming infected as he died. His body was taken back to Gentek in a body bag. Little did they know, as he was transported, the virus was reconstructing Mercer's body, cell by cell; his biomass feeding the virus as it replicated the still-living matter it had infected. First BLACKLIGHT Outbreak Awakening "Mercer" woke up in Gentek's morgue on a slab, just as two scientists were about to cut open his torso with a scalpel for an autopsy. The two men panicked and fled, terrified by Mercer's awakening. Mercer didn't understand, having no recollection of his previous life; he stumbled out of the room, finding his way out of the building. Walking out, Mercer observed the two scientists being apprehended by Blackwatch soldiers. The soldiers killed the scientists, then cornered Mercer. Though they unloaded their weapons on him, with Mercer screaming in pain, his body reconstructed the damage, and he managed to leap over a fence away from them. He then evaded further pursuit, and when a helicopter was all that managed to follow him, he destroyed it with a thrown air conditioner unit. Meeting Dana As he stalked along the alleyways, Mercer eventually collapsed from exhaustion and pain from his reconstituting body. He was found by a Blackwatch soldier, and after Mercer instinctively consumed him, learned about his sister Dana Mercer. Knowing she was about to be arrested by Blackwatch, Mercer rescued her and fled with her to a safehouse. Mercer worked with Dana to piece together his forgotten past and undermine Blackwatch. As small pockets of infection began to show up on Manhattan, Mercer would infiltrate Blackwatch posts as they worked with Law enforcement to quell the infection. Releasing Elizabeth Greene Dana uncovered information of an individual held by Gentek, Elizabeth Greene, who Mercer recognized from his previous work on her. When he went to go free her, she attacked him upon her release, and escaped into the city, unleashing infected Hunters that Mercer had to kill; he was forced to lure them to a Blackwatch building, and destroy its foundations to bring the building down on them in order to stop the Hunters. The infection then became much more deadly; whereas before they were small, isolated clusters of civillians exhibiting severe sickness and quick deaths with few being reanimated, now they became a small army in their own right under Elizabeth Greene's control; entire blocks became havens for the Infected. The US National Guard was called in, essentially replacing the New York Police Department as protectors of civilians, locking down the entire island of Manhattan. Mercer and Dana continued to try to find out why this was happening. Karen Parker's Betrayal/Infected by Captain Cross Mercer came in contact with his ex-girlfriend Karen Parker, who had him collect samples of the infection for her. However, he was betrayed by her, cornered by Blackwatch soldiers and Captain Robert Cross, an elite Blackwatch operative. Mercer was injected with a "cure", a parasite created from the biological material he salvaged for Karen. Mercer managed to escape, but barely alive; the cure disabled all of his powers, and was slowly dying. Working with Dr. Ragland Dana directed him to Dr. Bradey Ragland, a University Professor holed up in his building who was studying the virus's effects on people. Having no connections to Blackwatch, Ragland could be trusted, and reluctantly cooperated with Mercer in getting rid of the cure in his body. The pair came up with a plan to inject small portions of the cure in the body of a Hunter, which began producing its own antibodies to fight the cure. When it was successful, Mercer consumed it, ridding his body of the parasite and gaining his powers back, but stronger than before. Mercer collected the cure for later use. Dana's Capture Mercer returned to Dana to inform her of his success. However, their conversation caused Mercer to reluctantly reveal the nature of his powers and how he collects memories from the people he consumes. Dana feared the monster Mercer had become, but Mercer promised he was still human and was only doing this to make those responsible pay. Right after she accepted him as still being his brother, she was captured by a Leader Hunter; Mercer was unable to save her due to Blackwatch intervention. Ragland helped him find her through the use of consuming carriers and Hunters to access the memories of the infection's Hive Mind; Mercer found the primary Hive, and helped the National Guard penetrate its defenses to rescue his sister. Creating the Supreme Hunter Finding Greene inside, Mercer fought her and injected the previously secured parasite into her. However, Elizabeth quickly rejected it, and retreated as the rejected biomatter quickly mutated into the Supreme Hunter. Mercer defeated it, rescuing Dana and delivering her to Ragland. Mercer then came in contact with a mysterious figure, who desired to help him rid the island of the infection and undermine the presence of Blackwatch. With his aid, Mercer became aware of Blackwatch's new airborne chemical "Bloodtox" to combat the virus, as well as the use of controlled samples of the virus to create Supersoldiers. Mercer managed to redirect the Military into successful deployment of Bloodtox while building up his own immunity to it, driving the Virus to retreat underground. With Mercer's aid, they pumped Bloodtox into the ground to force the Infection back out, so that it could finally be destroyed. Defeating Elizabeth Greene In Time's Square, the infection finally broke out to escape Bloodtox, but Elizabeth Greene took upon a huge, monstrous form, unleashing hundreds of infected that were stronger than the conventional type. The military force was almost entirely overwhelmed, but Mercer aided them in damaging the massive form enough, with Mercer pulling Greene out and trying to consume her. When this caused his body tremendous pain and risked her taking over his mind, he rejected her and left her for Blackwatch to kill instead. Military Purge of Manhattan When the military began a massive retreat from the island, Mercer and his contact realized some sort of mass destruction was in the works. Mercer met with his informant, who turned out to be a defected Captain Cross. The pair needed to get aboard the military's Aircraft Carrier near the island in order to stop the countdown of Manhattan's destruction; to do this, Mercer had to assume the disguise of Colonel Ian Taggart, the National Guard's second in command for the force in New York. Destroying the air fleet of escaping transport helicopters, Mercer forced Taggart to use a ground extraction instead, via Tanks and APC's; Mercer destroyed the group before they got off the island, and consumed the Colonel. With their plan in place, the duo called for extraction to the Carrier to stop the countdown. Upon meeting with Colonel Peter Randall, they realized that he planned on using a tactical Nuclear missile to destroy Manhattan, abandoning whatever forces were unable to escape the city as well as countless innocent civilians in order to stop the Virus. With the activation trigger secured and with only Randall knowing the code, Mercer consumed him; he realized the Colonel was indirectly responsible for the present situation, having stopped the REDLIGHT virus before in Hope, Idaho, but capturing Elizabeth Greene as a military asset and securing himself a promotion instead of stopping the virus when he could have. Final fight against the Supreme Hunter Captain Cross then betrayed Mercer, attacking him and revealing itself as the disguised Supreme Hunter. The two battled aboard the Carrier's deck, with the Supreme Hunter planning on consuming Mercer in order to survive the Nuclear detonation. However, Mercer defeated and seemingly killed the creature, but was unable to stop the detonation with the code as it entered its guaranteed activation phase within the last couple minutes. Mercer attached it to a helicopter, flying the Nuke to the ocean nearby and dropping it in the water. He was unable to escape the blast, however, and much of his body was destroyed from his close proximity to the blast. Ending the First Outbreak Fortunately, a crow picked up a tiny patch of his bloody biomatter, which consumed the bird and slowly reconstructed itself. Mercer had saved the city from utter annihilation, and went to aid the military in combatting the virus in a conventional manner. Within a few weeks, the entire infestation was destroyed, and all of the infected bodies processed by Gentek to keep the dying virus from spreading. Mercer then left New York while the city was in the works of mass cleansing. Finding humanity After the virus was purged from New York, Mercer went to try to reintegrate with human society. However, his findings were unsatisfactory, seeing a series of cruel acts committed by common people who cared nothing for the world. He traveled through many states and even in other countries and continents. During his travels, Mercer killed a villainous African warlord and traveled to Moscow, where he came to realize that, even though humans treated one another with decency, it was all a facade and they only cared about themselves and their individual freedoms. On his way back to the US, Mercer freed a small town from a drug cartel, though their celebrations only further convinced Ale that humans were selfish and not worth saving. With each place, he grew more and more frustrated and disillusioned with humanity, seeing them as nothing but a wretched race of heartless creatures. Mercer came close to giving up when he found a man named Flint, who was a lumber mill owner in Wyoming, and his daughter Autumn. He seemed to feel a sense of peace with the small family, which grew when he realized Autumn was slowly becoming attracted to him. Mercer decided that it wasn't the whole of society, but the small communities and connections where good hearts could be found. He then came to realize he was developing an emotional attachment to Autumn, and the two drew close. However, Flint's former business partner wanted the lands around the mill, and when Flint would not sell, the partner sent two thugs to kill him and Autumn. Mercer killed the thugs in secret and went to deal with the partner himself. Mercer infiltrated the business partner's office and consumed him, but discovering through his memories that Flint was once a criminal involved in many murders and extortions. Enraged and disappointed, Mercer returned to Flint's cabin and, despite Flint's insistence that he left his past behind, Mercer killed him. Mercer then returned to his cabin to find Autumn there and attempted to convince her to come with him in his travels, only to discover that Autumn had stolen all of his money. Autumn promptly shot him in the face and revealed that she cared about herself above anything else, declaring that her father taught her better than to believe in something such as family and trust. To her surprise, Mercer regenerated and consumed her, finally deciding once and for all that humanity was worthless and that it was his duty to destroy them. Second BLACKLIGHT Outbreak Unleashing the Virus Fourteen months after the virus was erradicated from New York, Mercer returned to Manhattan. Arriving via train in Penn Station, he initiated a second outbreak himself, deliberately, with a new strain of the BLACKLIGHT virus just as the city was about to come out of quarantine. Now with Mercer directing its path, the virus proved to be too much for the Military and Blackwatch to handle. A mass evacuation was initiated, but was entirely unsuccessful; the former administration was ineffective, resulting in the vast majority of Manhattan island to be lost to the infection. New York City becomes NYZ With new administration dividing New York City into various control zones, Mercer took up residence in the ruined Manhattan island, now declared the Red Zone. He created several semi-powered entities called the Evolved to infiltrate Blackwatch and Gentek, where they slowed efforts to stop the infection. Meeting James Heller Mercer then came across Sgt James Heller in the Red zone, a marine single-mindedly pursuing Mercer for revenge at the loss of his family to the virus. Mercer easily apprehended him, and for a while played with Heller. Later deciding he was too interesting to kill, Mercer infected him with the Evolved strain, intending to use him as one of his pawns; however, Heller's body proved resilient, and just like Mercer, ended up becoming a Prototype himself. Recruiting Heller After Heller broke himself out of Gentek containment in the Yellow Zone, Mercer met him and described his newfound powers. Putting the blame on the infection, and the subsequent deaths of Heller's family, on Gentek and Blackwatch, Mercer was able to gain a reluctant ally in Heller to bring down Gentek and Blackwatch's control over the city. Believing that Heller was taken care of for the time being, Mercer returned to the Red Zone to continue his plan for taking over NYZ, feeding orders through his secret Evolved. Unfortunately for Mercer, Heller was able to establish contact with an old friend of his, Luis Guerra, who helped him learn more about Blackwatch, Gentek, and the virus than Mercer intended for Heller to know. Mercer directed one of his Evolved, Dr. Koenig, to lead Heller into destroying Blackwatch's new supersoldier operation, Project ORION, so that the supersoldiers could not be used against him. Secretly, to himself, Koenig plotted against Mercer's plan, hoping to have Heller be killed after Project ORION was destroyed. Conflict with Heller While Heller did manage to bring down Project ORION, he ended up learning about Koenig's intentions and tried to kill him. To Heller's surprise, Koenig revealed he was similarly "Evolved" like Heller, resulting in a vicious battle. After Heller managed to kill and consume Koenig, an irritated Mercer confronted Heller on killing Koenig and confirmed that there were more Evolved, infiltrating Blackwatch and Gentek. He claimed that he and Heller were to lead them in an attack on Blackwatch and Gentek in order to break their hold on New York and free the city; Heller noted that Mercer made no mention of the virus' destruction, and when he questioned it, Mercer was taken aback, before dismissively replied that the virus would go along with Gentek and Blackwatch, promising that it was part of the plan all along. After commanding him not to kill another Evolved, Mercer left Heller to continue his operations. Heller knew at this point that Mercer was lying about the virus, and worked with Guerra to continue digging up information. Mercer's involvement Eventually, Heller managed to uncover Mercer's true role in the infection; Guerra uncovered video footage of Mercer releasing the virus in Penn Station, making him ultimately responsible for not only the deaths of millions of people once more, but also his family. The Whitelight plot At some point, Heller, working with Guerra and one of Mercer's elusive Evolved Sabrina Galloway, learned about Mercer's plot to release the corrupted Whitlight "cure" to infect all of NYZ at once. Infuriated at Heller's release of the information to Blackwatch by deploying a small sample early and to public eye, Mercer left the Red Zone to confront Heller once more. Finding Heller at the Whitelight production facility in the Green Zone, Mercer lashed out and subdued Heller, angry that he had set back Mercer's big operation which took months of painstaking work to piece together. Tired of the disappointment that Heller proved to be, Mercer attempted to consume him; however, Heller was able to resist and break free of Mercer's hold. Astounded, Mercer fled the scene, instead summoning a Goliath to destroy the facility and release the Whitelight upon the city. While leaving the Goliath to do its task as well as keep Heller busy, Mercer managed to locate Guerra's hideout and had his infected break in and kill him before returning to the Red Zone. Capturing Dana and Amaya Mercer, upon learning that Heller had come to the Red Zone, quickly tried to find a way to stop him. He was able to learn that Dana Mercer was operating in secret within the Red Zone; he also learned that Heller's daughter, Amaya, had not in fact been killed but was kept captive by Blackwatch. He sent Sabrina to retrieve Amaya while he went to capture Dana. Putting the pair of them together in a vault to use as leverage against Heller, Mercer was confronted by Dana about the monster he had become. Ignoring her quip, Mercer proclaimed himself above all life on the Earth and that humanity, Dana, and even the identity of "Alex Mercer" meant nothing to him before sealing the two within. Mercer then gathered his Evolved and prepared to confront Heller. Fight against Heller When Heller found Mercer and his Evolved, he immediately questioned them on the location of his daughter, threatening them he would get his answer whether he had to rip the memories from their corpses or not. Mercer, not fazed, dismissed Heller and instead revealed his revelation that life on Earth was stagnant, and that he could change it by bringing it all together under one body to end all conflict and suffering. Heller angrily berated Mercer on his elusive plotting, not caring about any of it and only wanting his daughter. Mercer then told Heller why he needed Amaya: she shared Heller's resiliant, but useful DNA, and would be the key to Mercer's plan to unite the world in one body. After threatening Heller that he would use Amaya to begin his new stage of life on Earth, Mercer released his Evolved to attack Heller all at once. While Heller had grown powerful, he had difficulty contending with a dozen of Mercer's Evovled, each of which possessed a unique trait. After they roughed him up some, Mercer dismissed them to watch so he could finish Heller on his own. Mercer made easy work of Heller, who despite his best effort and power was unable to defeat Mercer. He tried to escape, though Mercer prevented every effort, intent on finishing Heller once and for all. Just as Mercer prepared to kill and consume Heller, the fight was interrupted by Dana, who had somehow been broken out of captivity. It was revealed that Blackwatch freed her and Amaya, and under the direction of Colonel Rooks initiated a strike on Mercer and his Evolved. During the resulting chaos, Heller witnessed Mercer killing Dana just before escaping on his own, barely alive. Mercer and his Evolved destroyed the strike team, with only Rook's Helicopter escaping with Amaya. Assuming that Heller was dead, Blackwatch resecured Amaya in a facility far from New York State to reintegrate her into civilian life, her involvement in the NYZ plot ended. With no sign of Heller's body, Mercer dispatched his Evolved to find him and put an end to the annoyance that he was. After a few days and a few more dead Evolved, Mercer withdrew the hunt, waiting for Heller to come out of hiding and reveal himself if he was still alive. He continued his operations to take over NYZ from the Red Zone. Meeting Samantha Greene Mercer later met Samantha Greene, a civilian who came into NYZ and was infected by Sabrina Galloway into another Evovled. Mercer put her through a series of tests to measure her power and loyalty. Sam proved to be initially loyal and potentially useful for his plans; however, he came to believe she was more servicable to Sabrina specifically and didn't care so much to serve him. He warned Sabrina about this, and told her to keep her on a tighter leash if she wants to keep her pet. It was obvious to him and the other Evolved that Sabrina and Sam were sharing an intimite relationship, and started caring more about each other than Mercer's objectives. When Mercer deciced that Sam was more of a liability and a threat, he assigned his Evolved on a multitude of missions in pairs, with her and Sabrina directed to retrieving an "Asset" in Gentek's building. He assigned these missions simultaneously so that Sabrina could not call on the aid of the others, leaving the two of them to complete it alone. When the two infiltrated the building and searched for this asset, they were attacked by a freed Elizabeth Greene; Mercer had realized through Sabrina weeks before that Blackwatch had kept her alive and imprisoned, and had entered the building just before they did to release her upon them in secret. Sabrina managed to escape, but Sam was lost, presumed dead by Mercer. Mercer then came to discover Elizabeth Green had created and sent another massive creature to wreck havok. Realizing the threat to his plans, Mercer summoned a collection of his Evolved to deal with it. He pulled the individual out of its core that was fueling it's power and unconciously controlling it. Mercer saw it was Sam, reconstituded by Greene against him; he dragged her to their hideout, casting her before Sabrina to remove the threat she had become. Sabrina decided her loyalties lied without Mercer, convincing half of his Evolved to turn against him; however, Mercer merely summoned a Goliath to distract them, and consumed the rebellious Evolved one by one while his loyal followers retreated, in fear of his wrath. Though he was close in killing Sam and Sabrina, the pair managed to escape the city and fled the East Coast, leaving Mercer behind. Personality Having no real personality of its own when it was created, the BLACKLIGHT Virus took upon Alex Mercer's memories when it consumed his corpse and replicated it. When it awoke without any recollection of what it was, the Virus experienced amnesia, picking together memories while assuming that it was actually Alex Mercer. It would develop closeness with Dana Mercer, who recognized the entity as her brother Alex and gave it caring love. The entity at first reciprocated these feelings, naturally coming to believe Dana as its sister since it believed it was Alex Mercer. Once the entity realized that the real Alex Mercer was long dead and that it was just a manifestation of the virus, it began to question its place in the world again. Seeking comfort in Dana only to lose her immediately after, the entity developed a partnership with a rebellious Captain Cross, only to realize that it was the Supreme Hunter. Once again, the entity attempted to develop closeness with another human, Autumn, only to be betrayed by her as well. Unfortunately, after repeated betrayals and mishaps during the initial outbreak and afterwards during his travels, Mercer's world view became increasingly cynical and nihilistic. He decided that stopping the outbreak was a mistake and started a new one himself to usher in a new race; he claimed he was making a better world by doing so. In his new role as the leader of the infected, Alex pursued his goal of spreading the virus in a far more active and aggressive manner than Elizabeth Greene ever did, even inspiring spies within both Blackwatch and Gentek and using their resources and scientists to do so. Appearance Mercer is a pale-skinned individual with grey-blue eyes and dark brown hair that looks almost black. His hair is short and curly. The BLACKLIGHT entity that replaced Mercer is capable of replicating the appearance and clothing of anyone it consumes. The outfits and equipment it manifests, such as radios and body armor, are completely organic and are a part of its body; therefore, it cannot be removed in a conventional sense without further shapeshifting. To take off a watch, for example, would be like taking off a hand or a foot. Mercer's base form is a complete copy of the outfit the Doctor wore at the time of his human death in Penn Station; a white button-up shirt left partially unbuttoned on the top with the collar unfolded up and pointing out, a grey hoodie zipped halfway up with the hood over the head, a black leather jacket with a red collar left open with a pair of white stripes around the upper arms and a red tribal design on the back, a pair of blue jeans, and black shoes. Powers/Abilities Alex Mercer is a Prototype, the most powerful type of viral entity created from BLACKLIGHT. He is the last survivor of the initial BLACKLIGHT strain, and is the center and core of the current infection gripping New York. He is almost impossible to kill due to his incredible power and tremendous regenerative capacity. Originally, Mercer was only human. Once reanimated by the Blacklight virus, every particle of Mercer's form, including his clothing and equipment, becomes comprised entirely of viral biomass. This substance can be manipulated at will. Mercer can reconstitute damage slowly over time, or instantly through the process of consuming; absorbing the organic matter of other living creatures, converting it to his own while gaining their knowledge, skills, and their physical form, which he can assume as a disguise. He can manipulate his base form to create weapons for attack, or generate armor and shields. Base powers *'Shapeshifting': Mercer's Blacklight infection has granted him the ability to both shapeshift and fashion his body into weapons. He possesses consumption/assimilation abilities inherent in all infected creatures that allow him to take on the form and memories of any creature he consumes. *'Superhuman Strength': His incredible strength allows him to lift cars, trucks, the destroyed remains of tanks, APCs, and helicopters and throw them great distances. He is far stronger than any normal human or most basic Infected, able to kill a regular human with a single, glancing blow and manhandle the infectious residents of Manhattan. Mercer is capable of punching holes through almost anything if necessary, including a two-foot steel door. *'Superhuman Speed': Mercer's speed is likewise enhanced. He can achieve running speeds surpassing any vehicles including Helicopters. *'Superhuman Agility': He can perform amazing parkour feats such as flips and rolls and maneuvers over and around vehicles and debris with little trouble. His leg strength allows him to leap nearly ten stories into the air. Mercer can run up sheer vertical surfaces and cling to walls for an indefinite period of time. Mercer is also capable of gliding, by ejecting small amounts of mass for further propulsion. *'Superhuman Endurance': Mercer's endurance far exceeds that of a human's by leaps and bounds. His body no longer possesses weak bones or vital organs, rendering him immune to otherwise debilitating injury. This biological change allows him to survive falls from any height completely unharmed. Bullets of any caliber will pass through his body, causing very little damage that heals instantly. He can withstand direct hits from rockets, hellfire missiles and tank shells, which cause only moderate damage. The superhumanly strong blows of the various type of Hunters and super soldiers cause the most damage of any type of attack. His superhuman stamina allows him to be physically active at all times without tire. *'Healing Factor': Mercer's body has vast powers of self-regeneration. So long as he is properly nourished, Mercer can restore his health and heal any wounds within moments. He can heal a small amount of his health even without consuming any creature. Examples include regenerating bullet wounds instantly after being shot, regenerating a massive hole in his face after being shot point-blank by General Randall, and reconstructing his entire physical form from non-descript piles of biomass and the biomass of a crow within minutes of being blown apart by a nuclear explosion. Mercer also seems to have a robust immune system. Though unable to counter a parasite which had been introduced into his body without outside help, he gained a growing immunity to bloodtox with repeat exposure. *'Superhuman Senses': Mercer's vision and hearing is enhanced, allowing him to see beyond the visible spectrum and hear across great distances even with physical insulation. He has Thermal vision which allows him to locate heat signatures, and Infected vision which can detect large concentrations of the virus and tap into the hive mind itself. *'Durability: '''Mercer's body is greatly increased that he can survived extreme blunt trauma, he can survive through collapsing buildings fall on him and walk out of the rubble as it was nothing. Mercer can take shot from a rocket launcher and can only be push back a bit by the force without blowing to pieces like a normal human. *'Adaptability:' The Blacklight Virus is capable of adapting itself to certain elements after a continuous exposure to said element. Mercer was able to walk away from being inhibited and slowed down by more than 10Gs of gravitational force. Offensive Powers *'Claws': The Claws are a fast offensive power for Mercer, manifesting his arms into black biomass with three long fingers and a long thumb on both arms. Each finger and thumb ends in long, metallic blades that are capable of shredding a variety of materials and regenerate any damage done, never losing its edge or breaking. The claws deal light damage, but are very fast. Despite their light damage, they can still slice through crowds of humans in a single wide sweep. *'Hammerfists': The Hammerfists are a slow offensive power for Mercer, manifesting his arms into hardened grey biomass with clublike ends on both arms. Adding a lot of compressed mass, they are incredibly heavy and cumbersome, but they deal tremendous amounds of damage. Mercer can destroy all types of armor with them, including Tanks and building structures, with only a few strikes; he can also demolish hordes of humans by crushing them, with the fists heavy enough to cause area-effect damage like small explosions. They are slow, but the amount of damage they pack makes up for the lost maneuverability. *'Blade': The Blade is a balanced power for Mercer, combining the speed of the Claws with the damage of the Hammerfists. His upper arm transforms into black biomass, while the entire lower portion is fashioned into a massively long, sharp and broad metallic blade on the front, with a smaller blade emerging from behind the elbow. This blade deals more damage than the claws, and is faster than the hammerfist. Its large form allows incredible ease against a multitude of targets, able to cleave through dozens of people with a single swing, and its incredible damage renders it quite effective against enhanced targets. Its versatility and power makes it Mercer's favored manifestation during combat. *'Whipfist': The Whipfist is a ranged attack for Mercer, manifesting a single arm into black biomatter with four small metallic blades formed for fingers. The arm is incredibly elastic, allowing it to expand into a black tendril several dozen feet long. It is effective in penetrating targets from a distance, as well as being used for grabbing enemies or objects that are far away. For objects too massive and heavy for Mercer to pull to him, he can attach the Whipfist to and pull himself towards, making this an effective power for boarding aircraft such as helicopters. Its flexible form allows it to be used to clear a small city block of conventional enemies in one single sweep. *'Musclemass': The Musclemass is a utility power for Mercer, manifesting both arms into hardened grey biomatter, but not compressed like the Hammerfists into clubs. Instead, they retain their typical humanoid shape with five fingers, though take on an incredibly muscular shape. This power augments Mercer's strength far beyond its already incredible limit, allowing him to make thrown objects or people into essential armored missiles that can penetrate nearly any defenses, and to utterly destroy any enhanced creature a few times over with a single hit. *'Tendrils': The Tendrils are a copied power of Mercer, having adapted them from watching Heller's use of them. They manifest as black biomatter arms with three stubby fingers, swelling with tubelike protrusions all the way up to the shoulders. When used to attack humans, they terribly mutilate them with a barrage of tentacles that rips bodies apart and strings them to walls and ceilings, effectively hanging corpses to the environment; larger creatures are immobilized by these tendrils, allowing Mercer to finish them off on his own. He can also detach a portion of the tendrils from himself to a single target, setting it to release several tendrils to grab other individuals and objects, pulling them back to the target with tremendous force and generating a powerful detonation. Defensive Powers *'Shield': The Shield is Mercer's primary defensive power. Manifesting as a collection of black biomatter on his back, Mercer's shield then morphs through his arm into a large, round shape of hardened black mass on one or both arms, generating either one or two shields that defend against all projectiles. The shields take all damage from attacks, leaving Mercer unscathed; they also do not reduce Mercer's maneuverability at all. When they take enough damage, the Shields can break, and require a couple minutes to regenerate before Mercer can use them again. Mercer can use the Shields to bounce slow travelling projectiles, such as rockets, back at an opponent, as well as generate spikes used to bash an attacking opponent away, stunning them temporarily. When sprinting through crowds with the shield active, the strength of the shield instantly kills smaller targets from the force of his velocity. *'Armor': The Armor is Mercer's secondary defensive power. Hardened, grey biomatter forms over Mercer's entire body, covering him in a sort of suit of biomass which reduces the damage Mercer takes while reducing his agility. Unlike the shield which takes all the damage for Mercer leaving him unaffected, the armor only reduces damage, with Mercer still taking the hits directly. He also loses the ability to airjump and use parkour, his speed and maneuverability also slowed at the cost of additional protection. Devastators Devastators are large, powerful attacks that can only be performed in a state of Critical mass; either when Alex Mercer is close to death and reduced to below 10% health, or when Mercer has consumed an incredible amount of mass and exceeds his full 100% health capacity. *'Tentacle Barrage': The Tentacle Barrage is an area-effect attack, spanning a circular area on the ground and a spherical area in the air. This power collects energy into Mercer, which when released unleashes a hundred tendrils from every point in his body several dozen feet long. These tendrils are incredibly strong, able to pierce just about everything it comes across, including Tank armor and building structures. This power at its minimum strength can clear a wide area; at its typical strength it can destroy an entire city block. It is possible there are higher power levels if Mercer were to consume even more Biomass before its use. *'Groundspike Graveyard': The Groundspike Graveyard is an area-effect attack, only usable on the ground in a circular area. After energy is collected, Mercer pounds both arms into the ground, which generates several dozen large Groundspikes all around him. This power is more effective against vehicles and armor than the Tentacle Barrage, but its range is shorter than the Tentacle Barrage and it cannot affect air targets. *'Critical Pain': The Critical Pain is a single-target attack, though those caught nearby are also affected. After energy is collected, a huge mass of hardened tendrils is released from both palms which are both aimed directly forwards towards a single target. There is nothing yet that Mercer has encountered that can survive even a glancing hit from this Devastator, as even objects and creatures near the target are completely obliterated; there is nothing left of the target it is aimed at, even if it were an entire building or a massive creature. *'Infection initiation': This Devastator is used by Mercer to start small pockets of infection in areas that are clean and unaffected by BLACKLIGHT. This power was used by him to start the Second Outbreak in Penn Station. Pack Powers *'Pack Leader': As the head of the infected, Mercer commands all infected creatures. The Pack Leader Devastator summons him four Brawlers instantaneously, which he unleashes upon his opponents. These Brawlers are more powerful than the conventional type, and alone they have the potential to destroy entire military fortresses. Though Mercer can allow them to act on their own, he can also issue commands like they are guard dogs, to direct any number of them on a single target. If Mercer dismisses the Brawlers, he can trigger their bodies to explode in a small barrage of tendrils, dealing additional area effect damage. *'Juggernaut Pack': Just like Pack Leader, Mercer commands a group of infected, this time being large, lumbering Juggernauts. These are more powerful than Brawlers, especially for armored fortifications and vehicles. While this power is active, Mercer is temporarily augmented to the point he can destroy any opponent or vehicle with a single hit. *'Flyer Pack': Just like Pack Leader, Mercer commands a group of infected, this time being a huge swarm of several dozen Flyers. These infected crowlike creatures gather in the air around him, surrounding an opponent and cutting off their escape before diving in. They will rip and shred apart any creature they are called upon, and like the Brawler pack, Mercer can dismiss them or cause them to explode in a small area of tendrils. Quotes *"One Virus, three weeks, millions dead... and I was there. My name was Alex Mercer, and my work is almost done."'' *''"I looked for the truth. Found it, didn't like it, wish the hell I could forget it. Alex Mercer... this city suffered for his mistakes. For what he did at Penn station was unforgiveable, and whoever he was, that's a part of me; because when I close my eyes, I see the memories of a thousand dead men, screaming as I take their lives... moments I'll relive forever. What have I become? Something less than human... but also something more."'' *''"They think they're in control... they have no idea what I'm capable of."'' *''"I saw what he saw, I know what he knew... his memories are my memories."'' Gallery Alex Mercer 03.jpg|Alex Mercer's offensive powers Alex Mercer 04.jpg|Alex Mercer's armor and various abilities Alex Mercer 05.jpg Alex Mercer 06.png|Mercer and the Evolved Alex Mercer 08.jpg|Mercer in the Red Zone Category:Earth-44290 Inhabitant Category:Male Category:Villain Category:Characters Category:Evil